On the night Radek Dvorak set the franchise record for short-handed goals, the Panthers winger was asked what his secret was.

``I don't know,'' he said Monday. ``Sometimes you have more chances than you think.'' Later, Dvorak admitted ``My speed has helped me, too.''

It did again Friday.

Dvorak's goal in the third period during a Philadelphia power play sparked the Panthers to a 4-2 victory at BankAtlantic Center. The victory snapped Florida's losing streak at four and ended what had tied the worst start in franchise history.

Florida took its only lead of the night with 12:58 left in the third on Dvorak's 14th short-handed goal of his Florida career and 21st overall. With David Booth in the penalty box, Dvorak beat Chris Pronger for a loose puck at center ice, sped past Simon Gagne in the Philadelphia zone and roofed a shot against goalie Ray Emery.

Steve Reinprecht got an empty-net goal with 1:20 left.

``It was a very big win for us,'' Dvorak said. ``Every time you go to kill a penalty, you want to do that first. I got a lucky bounce when [Chris] Pronger couldn't get to the puck. I have my speed and saw Gagne behind me so I made a few quick strides and knew I had some time. It was a broken play. It went in, and I'm glad it did.''

For a Florida special-teams group that had seen much scrutiny during the 1-4 start, Friday was a good night.

Not only did Dvorak get the short-handed goal, but Stephen Weiss also picked up Florida's third power-play goal in as many nights. Weiss' goal came at a good time -- before his blistering slap shot off a pass from Dmitry Kulikov, the Panthers weren't doing much.

The Flyers, who have now lost three in a row, dominated the first period after enjoying a week sightseeing in South Florida. Philadelphia hadn't played since Saturday, so the team took advantage of the time off by coming to Florida early for a little team bonding on South Florida's waterways.

FLYERS' QUICK START

It didn't look like the Flyers had spent too much time in the sun early as they could have gone into the first break with a 4-0 lead. Philadelphia got its first goal when James Van Riemsdyk stole the puck from Weiss in the Florida zone and quickly got it over to a streaking Aaron Asham. In one slick move, Asham beat Scott Clemmensen, staking the Flyers to a 1-0 lead.

Philadelphia outshot the Panthers 9-7 in the first period and dominated play. And the three shots that hit the post in that period don't count as shots on goal.

Panthers coach Pete DeBoer and captain Bryan McCabe both let the team have it in the locker room. Then, Gregory Campbell and Bryan Allen fought Flyers within a minute of each other, giving the Panthers a needed spark.

``I didn't like our first period,'' DeBoer said. ``That's not how we want to play. The guys, to their credit, found the answer. I thought over the last 40 minutes, we played to the identity we want to create here: on the puck, hard to play against, pushing the pace. We got rewarded for it.''

Florida looked much improved in the second period, a 20-minute span that might have been the team's best period of the season. Clemmensen was forced to make a big save early in the period, but the Panthers bounced back and got the big goal from Weiss to tie it.

With 7:46 left in the second, the Flyers took their second lead of the night when Clemmensen stopped a Claude Giroux shot with his glove. Problem was, Clemmensen let it pop out and get behind him. Clemmensen fell back when he realized he didn't have control of the puck, pushing it back into the net.

SHOT OF MOMENTUM

With 54 seconds remaining in the second, Nathan Horton got his second goal in as many nights, camping out in front of the net and redirecting a hard shot from defenseman Jordan Leopold. That goal not only tied the score, but gave the Panthers a shot of momentum heading into the third.

A shot of speed from Dvorak -- and some clutch saves from Clemmensen down the stretch -- was enough for the Panthers to get their second win of the season.

``Our guys showed they didn't want to be a 1-5 team,'' DeBoer said. ``They didn't think they should have been 1-4.''

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